UMD students react to the news of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential win

Former Vice-President Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election; becoming the 46th president-elect. (CNN News)

Emotions ran high as University of Maryland students waited for the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Saturday. After four days of anticipation, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris declared victory for president-elect and vice-president-elect, respectively. 

University of Maryland students widely discussed their thoughts and reactions to the election results, two registered Republican students chose not to vote for President Donald Trump this year. One of these voters is freshman Letters and Sciences major Emma Friedman. 

 Friedman said she voted for Biden due to his belief in science relating to COVID-19. “I was extremely happy. But very patiently waiting for a moderate Republican in the next election,” said Friedman, who is also a member of AstroTerps, an astronomical society located in the Computer and Space Sciences Building. 

Friedman said her biggest issue with Trump is his lack of confidence in the sciences. She believes Trump is a science denier who doesn’t always subscribe to what scientists tell him, as a result of why he did not handle COVID-19 well.

Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacists during the presidential debates was another issue for some Maryland students. Sahil Kapoor, a Republican voter said Trump’s lack of response to the Black Lives Matter Movement and COVID-19 truly showed his ignorance towards this country.

“It couldn't have been a better day. The sun was shining for Biden on that Saturday!” said Kapoor, a mathematics major, who is a member of Pi Sigma Epsilon, a business fraternity on campus. 

Jacques Deroin, a freshman Democrat said “Trump made it abundantly clear to me that he is not fit to be president, especially with his handling of the pandemic ... I was relieved to see that Biden won,” 

 Although Deroin is not completely involved in politics often he was certain Biden would win the election, believing that the president-elect would follow through with his promises.

 According to a Knight Foundation and College Pulse poll, 70% of college students said that they will vote for Biden versus 18% for President Donald Trump. 

“What really sold me to vote for Biden were all the presidential debates and the vice-presidential debates but I knew since around a year ago, I no longer favored Trump,” said Kapoor.